CenturyLink has differentiated its cloud platform by looking to deliver full-service enterprise solutions that are largely abstracted from the underlying infrastructure
MOUNTAIN VIEW, California, Jan. 14, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the cloud industry, Frost & Sullivan recognizes CenturyLink with the 2015 North America Frost & Sullivan Company of the Year Award. Anchored by the highly sophisticated and comprehensive CenturyLink Cloud platform, the company's hybrid IT strategy enables businesses to optimally support multiple environments and deployment models. The hybrid IT portfolio moves beyond the public cloud and meets the needs of the next generation of technical and line-of-business cloud users for highly automated, efficient, reliable and flexible IT resources.
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"CenturyLink's hybrid IT comprises 'content' supplied by a variety of providers through multiple service and software models over a range of network and IT infrastructure options, as well as 'process,' which is supported by CenturyLink technology and expert technicians," said Frost & Sullivan Vice President of Research Lynda Stadtmueller. "Central to the hybrid IT solution is the CenturyLink Cloud platform, which is designed to support management and orchestration capabilities up the cloud stack, as well as across various deployment models and environments."
To ease the path to a hybrid IT environment, CenturyLink complements its sophisticated cloud platform with a range of managed and professional services. These include the innovative QuickStart Cloud Onboarding Services, which offer formal planning and implementation sessions; access to technicians; training on the platform for administrators and end users; and assistance in migration and deployment of software. In addition, cloud customers have access to optional tiered technical support services, priced as a percentage of the monthly usage.
CenturyLink has built its strategies and products to embrace new ideas. For instance, the company's aggressive acquisition strategy has enabled it to quickly expand its cloud portfolio to anticipate customer needs. This has proved a winning move as the company's business plans call for rapid integration of acquired products and processes onto the CenturyLink Cloud platform so that the new capabilities can be quickly brought to market.
To facilitate technical integration, CenturyLink has reorganized its technical teams around a development and operations framework for application development and deployment. This way, it can swiftly leverage its acquisitions to enable a more integrated and seamless user experience.
"Significantly, CenturyLink has embraced the trend of software-defined technology, building cloud-based intelligent platforms that are automated, programmable and self-servicing," noted Stadtmueller. "By investing in software platforms to perform IT functions, it becomes possible to offer 'anywhere services,' with the ability to deploy select CenturyLink managed services on a range of cloud infrastructure. This flexibility not only delivers value to its customers, but will also be pivotal in helping the company add services in the future."
Recognizing that technology decisions of the future will no longer be restricted to IT staff, CenturyLink has developed its services to address the needs of multiple constituents such as developers, line-of-business (LoB) employees and IT departments. Its managed private cloud is available across its more than 50 data centers and is hosted in an isolated environment, separate from a public cloud. The company also reengineered its managed services delivery platform to expedite the ordering and set-up process.
In light of CenturyLink's recent announcement that it is exploring options for its data center assets and co-location business, the company appears to be signaling that it does not need to own the physical data center assets to provide an end-to-end service. Overall, for having successfully implemented its organic and inorganic growth strategies, Frost & Sullivan is pleased to present CenturyLink with the 2015 North America Company of the Year Award.
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has demonstrated excellence in terms of growth strategy and implementation. The award recognizes a high degree of innovation with products and technologies, and the resulting leadership in terms of customer value and market penetration.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices Awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
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